A gentlemen’s review of Notre Dame’s eleventh football practice of fall camp

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish have completed seven practices of fall camp — which is more than 1⁄2 of the entire enchilada. Here are some notes and thoughts after Wednesday’s gig...

OFFENSE

Most of the big news of the day came from the offensive side of the ball. With the season-ending injury to Avery Davis, Notre Dame needed to grab another body for its WR room. That body is Xavier Watts, who was moved from WR to safety last year. Is it a perfect situation? No, but I do like the amount of speed Watts brings back to the position.

Speaking of the wide receivers... Joe Wilkins is back in pads and running drills and Deion Colzie was sidelined with a knee brace.

It was widely reported that a number of offensive linemen did not practice on Wednesday. Among those that did not participate were Tosh Baker, Aamil Wagner, Michael Carmody, Pat Coogan, Caleb Johnson, and Jarrett Patterson. It was the news about Patterson that was most alarming. According to Irish Illustrated’s Tim O’Malley, Patterson suffered an injury to his right foot. Despite rampant rumors that Patterson will miss a significant number of games this season, I’m under the impression that while the Ohio State game might be in jeopardy — it’s not a severe as those rumors started. We will know a lot more for sure during Marcus Freeman’s Thursday presser.

The focus today was on Deland McCullough and the running backs — in particular Audric Estime. I mean... these two have my heart right now.

DEFENSE

Prince Kollie was reported to be back in action after going through concussion protocol.

I may be in the minority, but I’m waiting on the moment D.J. nBrown locks up the safety spot opposite Brandon Joseph. While Ramon Henderson has better physical tools, Brown plays a heady game and was better than good coming in for an injured Kyle Hamilton in both 2020 and 2021. I’m really unsure how Houston Griffith ultimately fits in with this defense. After rewatching a some games from last year, he stuck out too many times as a guy that just refused to make a play or close in to make a tackle.

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